A friend called and asked if I wanted to go to Mexico spring break week. I said I would if I could get a standard OnePass award. While he was still on the phone, I logged onto the CO site and found standard availability AUS/MLM on 3/11 with a return MZT/AUS on 3/20. I told him that I was in for sure and that he should buy his ticket. When I tried to redeem the ticket, I realized that I could not book open-jaw reward travel online.

I called CO and the SLC rep checked and said there was no availability on those dates at the standard level. I pulled the CO site back up and told him that I could still see standard availability on all segments. When he tried the website, he too saw the availability and began the booking process. After numerous attempts he finally said he couldn't get the trip to book and he called IT.

The response from IT was something like "Yeah, there's a glitch on the website that sometimes shows standard availability when it's not really there. We should get that fixed." He told the rep that my only choice was to buy a ticket or use an EasyPass award. This was going to be a budget trip and I can't afford more than $600 for airfare. I also don't want to use double miles for EasyPass. So my friend and I are both SOL. While I was working on this ticket, he bought a non-refundable ticket on Expedia for $600.

The CSR told me there was absolutely nothing he could do even though he realized the position CO had put me in. I am especially frustrated because there are plenty of open seats on all flights and there was standard availability from IAH to Mexico and back. The problem was the AUS/IAH return. I can't believe that, considering the website glitch, CO could/would not open a standard award seat on the AUS/IAH legs.

Even as I am posting, the website is still showing standard availability for all segments.

If you still want the reward ticket, and are willing to potentially pay for a OW from IAH-AUS, you can book the AUS-IAH-Mexico-IAH segments now. I think you should get a free stopover, so you can book the final IAH-AUS segment for any future date/time that has availability. You can then request to waitlist for the real IAH-AUS segment that you want. Of course, if nothing opens up, you'll have to separately purchase the final IAH-AUS segment. (Alternatively, if you're platinum, there isn't any fees for changing your award ticket after it is issued).

Anyway, I agree that the reward booking engine seems to have gotten worse recently.

Thanks for the help sy7. I suggested that to the CSR and he said that since I had an open-jaw in Mexico he could only book my departure and return to/from the same city. I wonder if he was mistaken. I'm a gold right now but drop back to silver at the end of February. Paying the $35 change fee wouldn't be a problem, though.

I just searched the CO website and couldn't find anything that said a reward ticket couldn't have a stopove and an open-jaw, and I found a fare for IAH/AUS for $49. That would work for me if CO allows it. I think that if I could be waitlisted on the award ticket, it would probably clear, but I couldn't get the CSR to do that. I also could up the ante and buy a refundable ticket IAH/AUS and just cash it in if the waitlist didn't clear. I'll check that out tomorrow.

This happened to me once (a couple of years ago). While on the phone, I held the leg where std only showed up online and the CSR then built the rest of the trip (where the seats weren't online) around that pnr.

Hi sushibear, I'm sorry for the frustration. At the root of your issue there are two problems. First of all, continental.com doesn't currently handle open jaw, stopover and circle trip itineraries for reward travel. It will some day, but for now, such isn't the case. Second of all, the system used by our contact center doesn't build flight connections the same way continental.com does, and unfortunately the itinerary on 11-Mar AUS-IAH-MLM having Standard Reward availability doesn't automatically come up when requesting availability because of it's longer layover in IAH. Normally, the workaround in this case is very easy - we'll just build the connection one segment at a time. But in your case, the AUS-IAH leg is not open for Standard Rewards, except when used in conjunction with the connecting IAH-MLM flight. Although this doesn't happen often, it's definitely frustrating when it does.

If you'll send me a PM with OnePass number, we'll get this reservation built for you at the Standard Reward level. I'm also following up internally to address this discrepancy. Thanks very much for the specifics in your post.

^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^

that about says it ALL. I LOVE it when we have someone like Scott around who will step up to the Plate and make a Situation Whole. Theres William over at SPG too.

I have my gripes with some things that CO does, but as long as Scott or someone else is here to make people Whole, I cant see flying with any other Carrier. Its nice to know that CO does care!!!

I wish they would do this for me. I tried again this morning. Standard availability is still showing for AUS/MLM on 3/11. When I called CO, after several tries, I was put through to IT. Here's what I found out:

!. Yes, the IT could see that the website showed availability.

2. She said the website was wrong, there wasn't availability.

3. "They/we have been having a lot of problems like this since some changeovers a while back."

4. "If a standard seat was available on any leg of a trip, the entire trip erroneously show standard availability whether it was available or not." I know this is not true, because there are three flights AUS/IAH which would connect with the available IAH/MLM flight, but only one was showing standard availability.

4. I could not watlist for the AUS/IAH portions.

5. "Because of the glitches, people shouldn't trust the website for booking award travel, but should call CO reservations."

The quoted phrases are her words. The whole experience has been frustrating and disappointing. Because my friend had already bought his ticket I booked standard IAH/MLM and MZT/IAH and bought a roundtrip ticket for AUS/IAH for about the same price as three hotel nights in Morelia.

CO seems to be proud of their website tool for planning award travel. In my case, it looks their pride preceeded my fall. I wish I had had the info about its unreliability before beginning to plan this trip.

MAN you are THICK

2 posts above this 1, the one above my previous one CO INSIDER (Scott) Basically told you that if you PMed Him that he would set up the tkt as a Standard Award tkt for you. Why are posting anything NEGATIVE at ALL when Scott said he would get You the tkt.

You should Prasing Scott and CO and NOT bad mouthing them.

As for the AUS-IAH tkt you purchased since it was within the last 24 hrs you can Cancel it and get your $$$ back, but dont wait to long

You are way out of line. This post comes across to me as a personal attack, and I think the extortive nature of your pm probably falls outside the realm of what is appropriate for FlyerTalk. You certainly have my permission to post it if you are curious about what others might think.

I began writing my last post and was called into a meeting. After the meeting I finished and posted it. So, no, I hadn't read Scott's post. I was responding to the mbreuer post explaining what had happened when I tried his method. As the call was my third to CO, I was quite frustrated after it. I must say that everyone I talked to at CO could not have been more polite and each tried to be helpful in getting the award to book. The last person told me she was a supervisor and that there was going to be nothing that anybody at CO could do, hence her advice.

I really hadn't even thought about the possibilty of trying to get Scott's help. He certainly has been amazing in his contribution to this board, and we are fortunate to have him. I'm sorry that the order in which the posts fell gave the impression that I was being disrespecful to Scott. I would never have done that intentionally. I am sending him a pm right now.

1- It wasnt a personal attack on You had it been You would have known.

2- My 2 PMs to you were Deleted after they were sent but was the same as my last post on here

3- Just look at the posting times, CO Insider was at 7;02pm mine prasing him for stepping in to make you whole was at 7:28pm , yours to mbruer was at 7:54pm my 2nd one was at 8:35pm and yours above was at 9:33 pm

So from that time table your post to mbruer was 1 & 1/2 hrs after CO posted his wanting to make you whole and mine that you dont care for was 40 mins after yours. so what you want me to believe is that you read mbruers post, answered that post w/o having read anything after that post, posted your answer to him and then didnt read anything else till you read my PMs. possible yep, but very suspious that that was how it happened

If anything I edited the post you dont like way before you posted the post Im quoting on this post, where I informed you that if you purchased your tkt within the past 24 hrs you can cancel it ,get it refunded. If I was at all attacking You why the heck would I post that Info.

And if you would reread that 1st PM you would see taht I said if you decide to delete your Post bashing CO which was after COs post, that I would go back and delete that quoted post of yours from my post so that it wouldnt be avaialble to be read. Again I guess thats what a person does when they want to attack someone, offer to delete the neg quoted post.

sorry I just dont know how you could have read mbruers post and not CO-I which is right after it.

I never said you should have contacted COI about whats up to make You whole , I too would have probably done EXACTLY what you did do.

Gee"...everyone I talked to at CO could not have been more polite..." I would have thought you would have written this in the post where you were answering mbruer so that everyone would have seen well, they are putting me thru Heck but they are a great bunch of people. that post to mbruer doesnt sound like that at all, it sounds as if you are very angry and nobody was able to help you and therefore you went and purchased the AUS-IAH tkt and are ticked off at CO. At least thats how I read it,

NOW--THE GOOD NEWS

As soon as I was aware of CO Insider's post, I sent him a pm with the information he needed and apologized for the posting order. Within an hour, he had returned the pm and had everything fixed and had cancelled the ticket I had bought. As usual, Scott could not have been more gracious. We are indeed fortunate to have him as a part of this forum.^ ^

Im GLAD it worked out for You, I hope you have a GREAT time

It's wonderful that a CO employee stepped up in this situation to correct the issue. Wish more employees (at both CO and elsewhere) were pro-active like this.

The larger IT problem at CO is one that has been discussed in the CO forum for ages. Ever since the introduction of the calendar function, people have been complaining about its inaccuracies and the associated problems of booking awards. It's interesting that the system shows MORE award availability than actually exists. It would be nice if CO IT would tackle this item and correct it, but there seems to be no interest on the part of anyone at CO, including management who supposedly read these threads, to do anything about it.

oops - fat fingered a duplicate post .. Deleted this one